Melody Barnes bio box

Melody Barnes was picked as the Obama White House’s director of the Domestic Policy Council. Here’s a quick look at her career.

Melody Barnes was picked as the Obama White House’s director of the Domestic Policy Council. Here’s a quick look at her career.

Obama work: Is co-director of the Agency Review Working Group for the Obama-Biden transition team, and served as the senior domestic policy adviser.

Career: Barnes is a lawyer and is executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress. From 1995 to 2003, Barnes served as chief counsel to Sen. Edward Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She previously served as the director of Legislative Affairs for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and as assistant counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Education: She received her law degree from the University of Michigan and her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated with honors in history.